Delia Marola

Police captain Delia Mariola is still struggling to drive the predatory drug dealers from the rustbelt town of Baxter, before the new Nissan plant owners lose faith in this forgotten corner of America. It doesn't help that a boomtown has grown up just outside of city limits-a wild west designed to feed every unsavory desire of the workers building the plant. And like vultures homing in on the weak, criminal gangs from the big cities have also been drawn to the boomtown, knowing how freely money will flow to those willing to supply drugs and women to these workers far from home, looking for comfort and distraction. With no police actively enforcing the rule of law in the unregulated town, the criminals have turned on each other as they try to claim control. In the midst of this drug war, a young prostitute's body turns up on the streets of Baxter. Hoping this might be the case that allows her to finally be able to crack down on Boomtown, Delia is relentless in her pursuit of the killer and the group she believes is behind the criminal enterprises plaguing her streets. But Delia isn't the only person looking for the murderer. Two strangers have arrived in town, claiming to be the family of the deceased and possibly looking for a version of justice that has more to do with back hills vigilantism than the court of law.

In this newest entry in A. F. Carter's Edgar-nominated Delia Mariola series, a group of corrupt cops infiltrates the Baxter PD and an undercover agent must work to disarm them. The Baxter Police Department is prepared to battle against the drug dealers, pimps, and stick-up artists constantly streaming into town. Or, it should be. The department began recruiting shortly after the Nissan contract was awarded, which began the city's rapid transformation, but the commission vetting new hires rushed to bring in almost anyone with a law enforcement background. Men and women were added as fast as they applied, creating a vortex that perfectly suited a group of ex-cops from Missouri as corrupt as they are brutal. Championed by Bute Stafford, candidate for mayor, they aim to run the Baxter PD and, through it, the entire city. Captain Delia Mariola's not afraid-not of these crooked cops nor of the higher-ups who protect them. But she surely needs help and finds it in the form of Tom Carney. An experienced undercover from faraway Philadelphia, his status is known only by Delia and the commissioner. That secret proves invaluable as Carney weaves unsuspected through Baxter's underworld. But to what end? Does Carney serve the people of Baxter? Or is the supremely charismatic man playing a game of his own?